Good morning. Partly sunny skies today, with a chance for showers and thunderstorms in the afternoon. Highs near 86. The Nationals will play the Mets at home this evening.
Washingtonian Today editor Andrew Beaujon is off today, so I’m here to spray you with this morning’s firehose. He’ll be back tomorrow. You can find me on Bluesky, I’m @kmcorliss.19 on Signal, and there’s a link to my email address below.
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A great book on my nightstand:
“The View From Somewhere” by Lewis Raven Wallace. Back during the first Trump era, Wallace was fired from his job at a public radio station for eschewing “objectivity” in his coverage of white supremacy. In this book, he makes the case against what he calls “the myth” of journalistic neutrality, instead positing the industry as a vital mechanism for highlighting institutional injustice. As both sides-ism falters alongside the rise of nontraditional media outlets like independent podcasts and newsletters, Wallace’s book—packed with historical anecdotes and interviews with working journalists—offers a fresh perspective for reporters and news consumers alike to consider as we navigate our changing landscape.
Here’s some administration news you might have blocked out:
Good cop, bad cop: The Justice Department is investigating whether DC police falsified data to make crime rates appear lower. (AP) Back in May, the police department put commander Michael Pulliam on paid administrative leave for allegedly fudging crime numbers in his district. (NBC Washington) Amid the administration’s ever-growing show of scrutiny on DC’s government, the probe “is expected to go beyond investigating Pulliam and examine actions of other local officials.” (Washington Post) The move comes as local leaders cite these official statistics, which do generally point to a year-over-year decrease in violent crime indicators such as the homicide rate, to push back on the “public safety emergency” that Trump has called to justify his federal takeover of the city. “D.C. has a chronic problem with violent crime, but it’s not nearly the worst in the United States and it’s gotten significantly better over the past two years,” says Thomas Abt, the founding director of the Center for the Study and Practice of Violence Reduction at UMD. (NPR)
Sly as a Fox: In addition to overseeing the investigation into DC police, US Attorney for DC Jeanine Pirro is in the headlines for texts she sent to then-Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel in September 2020: “I work so hard for the President and party,” Pirro reportedly wrote, according to newly released unredacted court documents related to voting technology company Smartmatic’s ongoing 2021 defamation lawsuit against Fox News over the network’s coverage of alleged 2020 election interference. In other text messages, Pirro lambasted Sean Hannity for using the Oval Office bathroom and alerted Sidney Powell to “a former CIA chief of station who knows [about] development of Dominion,” another voting technology company which settled a defamation lawsuit with Fox in 2023. (Washington Post)
Insecurity guard: Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has yanked the security clearances of 37 current and former national security officials. She accuses these individuals of partaking in the “politicization or weaponization of intelligence,” failing to abide by “professional analytic tradecraft standards,” and other vague expressions of “detrimental” conduct. (AP) “Rescinding security clearances appears to be part of a campaign by [Gabbard] to reveal what she sees as flaws in intelligence assessments about Russian malign influence operations during the 2016 election.” (NYT)
Checking in on Ed Martin: Trump’s failed DC US Attorney nominee and current leader of the DOJ Weaponization Working Group has recently been finding creative ways to heckle New York Attorney General Letitia James, who his office is investigating for federal mortgage fraud. Via a letter to her attorney, Martin urged James to resign and promised he’d interpret such a move as “an act of good faith.” Last week, he showed up outside her Brooklyn home, telling a neighbor he was just looking at “interesting houses.” (AP) He was photographed wearing a trench coat, which was in dire need of a good steam. (New York Post) Later, he told Fox News, “I’m a prosecutor … I wanted to see the property.” (ABC) “Mr. Martin’s conduct is part of an emerging pattern from Mr. Trump’s administration over the past two months in which top officials seek to use the federal government’s vast intelligence gathering and law enforcement authority to cast the specter of criminality on Mr. Trump’s enemies without demonstrating that they might have committed crimes that rise to the level of an indictment.” (NYT)
Administration perambulation: You’ve heard of Alligator Alcatraz and the Speedway Slammer—now, get ready for the Cornhusker Clink. Housed in a minimum security prison work camp in Nebraska, the administration’s latest detention center is expected to accommodate 200 people with plans to expand. Governor Jim Pillen told reporters yesterday that he doesn’t know if the facility will detain women and children, or just men. (CNN) A Senate investigation has uncovered more than 500 reports of human rights abuses in ICE detention since January: Physical and sexual assault, pregnant women being denied care, and one officer allegedly telling the mother of a child with severe medical needs to “just give the girl a cracker.” (Wired) The State Department says it has revoked more than 6,000 international student visas for crime, overstays, and what officials call “support for terrorism.” (Washington Post) The US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has dropped a Biden-era investigation into a gun sales financing company backed by Don Jr. (Financial Times) Trump complained that the Smithsonian Institute is too fixated on “how bad slavery was.” (NYT) Elon Musk actually might not want to start his own political party after all. (WSJ) Trump on the US-Mexico border wall: Paint it, black. (Axios) A since-deleted Twitter account bearing the name of E.J. Antoni, Trump’s nominee to lead the Bureau of Labor Statistics, propagated far-right conspiracy theories about the 2020 election and Jeffrey Epstein. (Wired) To make America fit again, RFK Jr. did lunges in jeans. (X)
Recently on Washingtonian dot com:
• Our staff photographer Evy Mages has been on the streets of DC all week, capturing scenes around town since Trump’s federal takeover started last Monday. See a roundup of her photos.
• Our annual list of DC’s most stylish people.
• This wedding at the Patterson Mansion featured a cake decorated with the face of the couple’s dog.
Local news links:
• Feeling safer already! Federal prosecutors will no longer seek felony charges against people carrying rifles or shotguns in the city. Pirro says that the city’s existing ban on carrying these firearms “is clearly a violation of the Supreme Court’s holdings” in multiple landmark Second Amendment cases. No word on whether her office will also scale back its enforcement of handgun possession laws, which make up the majority of gun offenses in DC. (Washington Post)
• White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt promised that the feds are arresting plenty of people in Wards 7 and 8, amid criticism that law enforcement hasn’t been stationed in the city’s highest-crime areas. (WTOP)
• The Department of Education will cut funding to five Northern Virginia school districts over their bathroom policies for transgender students. (NBC Washington)
• Many local delivery drivers are reportedly staying home from work for fear of being detained. (NBC Washington)
• These beaches in Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia are closed for swimming as Hurricane Erin approaches. (Washington Post)
• A bulk carrier ship caught fire in the Port of Baltimore on Monday evening. No one was hurt. (Washington Post)
• Maryland’s new “Feds to Eds” program is tapping laid-off government workers to fill the state’s teacher shortage. (WJLA)
• Is NoMa the YIMBYest neighborhood in America? (The Economist)
• Washingtonians are valiantly exercising their rights to read smut on the Metro. (Washingtonian Problems)
Wednesday’s event picks:
• Jinya Ramen Bar will open its latest location at the Wharf tonight; the first 100 visitors will get free ramen on their next visit.
• Solve a murder mystery at Dacha Beer Garden in Shaw.
See more picks from Briana Thomas, who writes our Things to Do newsletter.
Did you miss our 100 Very Best Restaurants List? It’s here.
